今朝(けさ)

Pronunciation

今朝(けさ) is a special reading of the two kanji together; the parts are not read separately. The rare formal reading こんちょう appears in some news and written language, but けさ is used everywhere else, including polite speech.

Common patterns

• 今朝(けさ)の新聞(しんぶん): this morning's newspaper
• 今朝(けさ)から: since this morning
• 今朝(けさ)早(はや)く: early this morning

Similar words

• 今日(きょう)の朝(あさ): "this morning" spelled out; natural when contrasting with other times of today.
• 明日(あした)の朝(あさ): tomorrow morning; there is no everyday one-word equivalent (明朝(みょうちょう) is formal).

Related words

Other special readings in the same family: 今日(きょう) (today), 昨日(きのう) (yesterday), 明日(あした) (tomorrow), 今年(ことし) (this year). Most also have a Sino-Japanese reading used in formal speech (さくじつ, みょうにち, こんねん), but the special readings are the everyday ones.